Lecture 32- Problem solving

Question 1

What are the characteristics of achieving insight into a problem?

Answer 1

-insight is a process: -first impasse, looking at it, what is it? -suddenly you get it, it feels like something, element of certainty= represents a pattern of brain activity

Question 2

What were the two examples of insight we discussed?

Answer 2

-the largest prime number= proof by contradiction -the different types of infinity (real numbers)

Question 3

What are the two examples of elemental insight-related problem solving?

Answer 3

-The compound remote associate problems (CRAP) = what word can be joined to the words and makes sense -Bongard sets= classification problems, look for what makes the set a set

Question 4

Where does classification happen in the brain?

Answer 4

middle of the temmporal lobe= classification structures

Question 5

How to determine brain activity during problem solving?

Answer 5

-EEG as you can get very good temporal resolution

Question 6

What were the alpha and gamma signatures of the insight and non insight group(these just told the result)?

Answer 6

-there is a difference in the alpha band between the insight and non insight group -small difference in alpha activity -gamma range = the more coherent brain wide pattern -big difference at around the time people came up with the soution

Question 7

What does the gamma activity signify in problem solving?

Answer 7

-gamma activity when it happens= is association of different parts of the brain

Question 8

What are the conditions for insight?

Answer 8

-so when insight: 1.have the analytical phase 2.then if you relax and defocus, and restrategise= that is associated with the possibility of coming up with a solution= the gamma burst= gets more synchronous with other parts of the brain -all of this can be monitored with EEG, the Eureka moment is associated with gamma activity= controversial

Question 9

What is meant by top down executive control?

Answer 9

–preconceptions, the mental model we have= top down processing -conscious thought is a subset of cognitive activity: the brain knows more than it lets us know -when you have some idea what you are looking for much easier -the dalmatian picture

Question 10

What is gesture use like in humans?

Answer 10

when talking with gestures the same part of brain lights up as when using tools -tool use, gesture and language seem in some way interrelated-images of tools but not animals or people activate language areas in people

Question 11

When was the first tool use in people?

Answer 11

-first seen in the fossil record 2.4 MYA in Homo habilis -other animals also use tools but they don’t have creative vocabulary of tool use- they don’t make tools that are used to make other tools

Question 12

What did the first tools look like? (Oldowan)

Answer 12

-ad hoc simple ones -the ones you can find

Question 13

What were later tools like?

Answer 13

-1.8 MYA Acheulean bi-faced tools, more sophisticated -200 000 years ago Levallios tools show a vocabulary of tools, additional technologies such as use of strings -these demonstrate the ability to plan to the future -require a temporal structuring of behaviour and the creation of intermediate solution prior to the final solution (Levallios)

Question 14

What part of the brain are you using when classifying tools?

Answer 14

the ability to classify is not prefrontal

• inferior temporal region (like the face recognition)
• the ventral pathway
• prefrontal activity involved in tool use as well
• areas 45 and 47 are important for naming objects
• 44 45 is broca’s area
• you classify in inferior temporal then name and know what it does via prefrontal cortex
• here more conceptual representation

Question 15

How do we solve practical problems/concrete operations?

Answer 15

1: From objects: superior temporal gyrus, fusiform gyrus 2: via the ventral stream 3: to objective conceptualization: BA 45-descriptive representation, BA47- symbolic potential = there is a divide in what hemisphere represent what- left: quantitative/parametric; right- objective /iconographic -evidence suggest that Broca’s area (the 45 and 47 roughly) organizes not just language but similarly organizes body movements in relation to motor learning and communication -organises our motor control in relation to objrct we interact with

Question 16

What is the division in right and left hemisphere and solving practical problems?

Answer 16

1. left: quantitative/parametric; 2. right- objective /iconographic

Question 17

When grasping a hammer never having seen it and knowing it, what is the difference?

Answer 17

-natural way to hold a hammer is close to the centre of mass= mechanistic -if you know what it does = semantic knowledge

Question 18

What part of the brain are you using when looking at a novel object?

Answer 18

• Brodman area 46
• last area of the brain to become fully myelinated
• the last that develops
• abstraction in children develops later as well
• abstraction area

Question 19

How does abstraction in people develop?

Answer 19

-at about 12 years of age children become able to perform the logical operation and abstract conceptualizations to form and integrate a personal set of constructs (beliefs) -the last area of the brain to mature is the area 46, the top of the hierarchy in behavioural control -the dorsal stream (where) carries information from sensory association areas about the where and when of events and objects to BA 46 -BA 46 ideates space and time and other abstractions (eg atomic structure, god). The currency of BA46 is abstract concepts and the synthesis of possibilities, general principles of action and hypotheses

Question 20

What is the “currency” of BA46?

Answer 20

-BA 46 ideates space and time and other abstractions (eg atomic structure, god). The currency of BA46 is abstract concepts and the synthesis of possibilities, general principles of action and hypotheses

Question 21

What doe practical solutions require to some degree?

Answer 21

-practical creativity, some imagination

Question 22

What do you need to appreciate the properties of objects and materials?

Answer 22

-need to have a semantic scheme for these and a map of their use and applicability = a conceptualization of tools

Question 23

What are beyond the practical or parametrical properties?

Answer 23

-iconic or symbolic properties, and the ability to conceptualize and create objects of psychological significance (art)

Question 24

How common is invention?

Answer 24

-rare -imitation is common, most of our skilled learning is by copying not inventing

Question 25

Where does our exploratory drive come from and what is its function?

Answer 25

Evolution: are survival imperatives (survival of the fittest) or excess capacity (relaxed selection) driving adaptive advantage? -genes control brain development and function, the outcomes (behaviours) are selectable traits -eg. SIRT1- exploratory drive: anxiety, vigilance, reward system functionality

Question 26

How do we understand?

Answer 26

-characteristics of problem solving can include analytic approaches and /or synthetic “big picture” insightful solutions

Question 27

How does insight happen?

Answer 27

-insight solutions appear to involve whole brain regulation, focus, filtering, re-strategizing

Question 28

Ho much do we use the capacity for insight?

Answer 28

-imitation is more common form of problem solving than invention. The capacity to socialize problem solving as Science has generated our modern technological culture